Exelon to pay $692,000 to settle alleged merger-related violations

Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun

Exelon Corp. will pay $692,000 — including $151,000 to Maryland regulators — to settle alleged violations of a Justice Department agreement that had allowed the company to acquire Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group.

The Justice Department said Thursday that Exelon — to not raise market prices for electricity — was required to make electricity-sale bids at or below cost from 22 of its generating plants while waiting to sell three plants in Maryland after the merger. Instead, some of its bids were above cost, the agency said.

The Justice Department said it agrees with Exelon that the move was "inadvertent." The company notified officials of the error, the agency said. Still, the Justice Department said in a statement, "Exelon failed to take all necessary steps to ensure that its offers would comply."

In addition to paying $400,000 to the Justice Department, Exelon is paying $151,000 to the Maryland Public Service Commission,money that will be added to the "customer investment fund" set up as part of the merger. The company will also pay $141,000 to PJM, which runs the power grid for the multi-state region that includes Maryland.

Larry McDonnell, an Exelon spokesman, said in a statement that the "mistake resulted in little impact on market participants or Maryland customers." PJM estimated the total financial impact of the error at less than $100,000, he said.

"We are disappointed this error occurred," he said. "We accept full responsibility for our actions."